Pocketbook Global, third biggest manufacturer of E-Ink readers in the world, will be present at the CEBIT exhibition in Hannover, Germany, from march 2 to 6. This new company is the result of the fusion of two highly successful companies in their own right, namely OEM hardware producer Netronix from China and creator of reader firmware and hardware Pocketbook from the Ukraine, thus enabling Pocketbook Global to offer today's best in software and hardware as far as ebook readers are concerned.

Pocketbook Global plans to offer more than 20 different readers by the end of this year. In Hannover, the following devices will be available in Hall 14/15 Stand D09:

• The Pocketbook 301+, a highly reliable device with 6” screen and featuring the feature rich PocketBook firmware
• The PB360°, a stylish, essentially mobile reader with 5” screen and a hard cover that makes it a “real” sturdy pocket book
• The PB302, a newly developed 6” E-Ink reader with all the bells and whistles of a modern device including touchscreen, WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity and USB host capability.

The PB302 features an onboard ebook store with an incorporated pay system that makes it possible to shop online without ever needing to use a computer. In this shop, called Bookland (www.bookland.net), Pocketbook also offers a wealth of free books in English, German and French. The official launch of the PB302 will take place at the CEBIT on march 5 at a press conference opening at 10 am.

Of course, everyone is invited to come see us at our booth for a friendly chat and a demo of our devices. See you at the CEBIT!

Will the Pocketbook 302 work with ad-hoc wifi points? I use my cell-phone to generate a wi-fi hotspot; this is my primary form of internet access. Will the 302 be able to connect to this type of hot-spot?

You've got to be kidding! I have yet to see a video review of the 302 without the glare screen. You'll forgive me for only believing when I see it, since I've been waiting for this since last summer, with lots of target dates and as yet no review of the finished article.

Will the Pocketbook 302 work with ad-hoc wifi points? I use my cell-phone to generate a wi-fi hotspot; this is my primary form of internet access. Will the 302 be able to connect to this type of hot-spot?

From my experience, yes. The device is quite reliable in detecting hotspots. SSID is working quite fine indeed.

An ad-hoc WiFi network is Peer-to-peer, and I don't recall seeing this mode supported by any dedicated Reader yet (I think I read that the Boox 60 does not support this for example). On the other hand the 302 has bluetooth and that is potentially another way to connect to the Internet via a cell phone.

An ad-hoc WiFi network is Peer-to-peer, and I don't recall seeing this mode supported by any dedicated Reader yet (I think I read that the Boox 60 does not support this for example). On the other hand the 302 has bluetooth and that is potentially another way to connect to the Internet via a cell phone.

Oh good to know. I am a noop as far as cell phone connectivity goes. Thanks for the info. Bluetooth is working fine.

can it connect to a wifi network which is not broadcasting and SSID? I know my Roku box can have a problem when I shut off the SSID...I know, I know...it's still easy to see if you really are looking. But hey, every leetle bit helps...

Given that WPA has been cracked, we run nothing less than WPA2 with a HUGE key which I do change periodically (lots of kids getting to "that age" in the neighborhood so I wanna give them a moving target for as long as I can... ). How does the 302 deal with WPA2 and long keys?